Posted on 12/18/2020 6:36:17 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Beijing (AFP) - A citizen journalist detained in China after reporting from the Covid-19 ground zero of Wuhan will face trial later this month, her lawyer said Friday, as fears grow for her health.
Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan in February and livestreamed her experiences on social media. She also wrote essays critical of the government's response -- including the strict lockdown of millions of people.
Zhang was detained in May and is accused of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", according to a court notice seen by AFP -- a charge routinely used to suppress dissidents, with a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Zhang began a hunger strike in June, her lawyers said, and has been force-fed via a nasal tube.
Her lawyer Zhang Keke wrote in a note circulated on social media that her health was extremely poor and she suffered from headaches, dizziness and stomach pain.
"Restrained 24 hours a day, she needs assistance going to the bathroom," he wrote.
Zhang was critical of the early response in Wuhan, writing in a February essay that the government "didn't give people enough information, then simply locked down the city".
"This is a great violation of human rights," she wrote.
Zhang is the first to face trial of four citizen journalists detained by authorities earlier this year after reporting from Wuhan.
Previous attempts by AFP to contact the other three -- Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua -- were unsuccessful.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
They will shoot her for telling the truth. We want to shoot ours for lying.
...when China colludes with western globalists to create a bio-weapon to stop Trump/Brexit/Populism.
“ Zhang was detained in May and is accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble””
Democrats are jealous of that power and want it...badly.
This is the equivalent of RAT’s solution to logical argument, ad hominem attacks.
But what we do is make them in charge of government and media.
What is a “citizen journalist”?
A journalist who isn’t an illegal alien?
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